Inauguration Planners Launch Social Media Presence

Workers build the center camera stand last month in preparation for the inauguration on the West Front of the Capitol.

It won’t be for another few weeks until Americans know which candidate will be sworn in to the White House in January, but planning for the 57th presidential inauguration is already well under way.

And with just about three months left, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, for the first time, has built a social media presence to keep citizens in the loop.

The JCCIC, led this year by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), has launched a new website and Facebook page for the 2013 inaugural festivities.

“[The] new website will provide an encyclopedic resource to Inauguration watchers across the nation and the world,” Schumer said in a statement. “Our first-ever Facebook page will ... be an important source of practical information for Inauguration attendees.”

The website will be a “one-stop shop for all Inaugural facts, figures and information, past and present,” according to a release from Schumer’s office, and it is designed to appeal to historians, teachers and other presidential history enthusiast. One feature takes visitors through a president’s typical Inauguration Day; another section of the site links to the text of each inaugural address all the way back to George Washington. The website even features the menus and selected recipes for recent inaugural luncheons.

The Facebook page will be regularly updated with interactive features also seen on the website, such as videos of previous inaugurations. As of this afternoon, the page’s timeline was outfitted with dates and trivia for every presidential inauguration in history, in most cases accompanied by an artistic rendering or photograph of the actual swearing-in ceremony.

In addition, both sources will feature the latest logistical information relevant to people planning to come to Washington, D.C., to attend the event.

“On behalf of all the members of JCCIC, it is my hope that bringing all this information together in one place for the first time online will be of ongoing benefit,” Schumer said.

The JCCIC is formed once every four years to coordinate and execute the inauguration of the next president. Though the process is largely staff-driven, historical precedent dictates that the Senator currently serving as chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee also takes on the role as chairman of the JCCIC — in this case, that’s Schumer.

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March 13, 2015

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., right, hugs Harold Schaitberger, General President of the International Association of Fire Fighters, after the Congressman spoke at the IAFF's Legislative Conference General Session at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, March 9, 2015. The day featured addresses by members of Congress and Vice President Joe Biden.